Earthenware plate with blue transfer-printed text and images commemorating American abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy. [Staffordshire, England]: N.p., circa 1838-1840. Diam. 9 1/2 in. 

A fine example of a Staffordshire earthenware plate produced to commemorate the life of American abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy (1802-1837). Murdered by a mob, he is considered a martyr to the abolitionist cause and a champion of free speech and freedom of the press, all causes which are highlighted in this plate. 

The upper cartouche bears the abolitionist design of a kneeling slave imploring the personification of Liberty, used extensively by English abolitionists at the end of the 18th century and early-19th century. The original design was commissioned by the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and is most closely associated with the jasperware cameos produced by Josiah Wedgwood in the late 1780s. Here, the legend reads: "The Tyrant's Foe / The People's Friend." 

Other examples bear the same design with the slight variation of the top cartouche legend instead reading, "Lovejoy / The first Martyr to American Liberty / at Alton Nov.7.1837." (c.f. The British Museum, 2019,8002.1). Other articles were also produced with known examples, including a cup plate (Yale University Art Gallery, 1931.1903) and a pitcher (Hake's, Auction #231 Part 1, 25 February 2021, Lot 3). No known examples are marked, but "it is widely accepted that they were made in Staffordshire for export to America." (The British Museum,  2019,8002.1). Larsen notes that the plates were shipped to New York to raise funds for the abolitionist cause (Larsen, American Historical Views on Staffordshire China, no. 666, p. 242).

The plate's rim features two additional cartouches with the choice constitutional quotations, "We Hold That All Men Are Created Equal" and "Of One Blood Are All Nations of Men," with a third bearing the scales of Justice, all surrounded by four American eagles with shields. The center of the plate prints the text of the First Amendment, with emphasis added especially regarding the clauses regarding the freedom of the press. Lovejoy had been specifically defending his right to print anti-slavery material when he was attacked by a mob that threw him and his press into the Mississippi River. 

A very fine example of abolitionist ceramics.

[African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation] [Ceramics, Earthenware, Porcelain, Decorative Arts, Americana]